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Found this article by an ex member of this squadron. From http://adct.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ad-news-2-of-2020.pdf
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 Basil Hotz recounts a RAF262 WW2 story of a sinking u-boat off the coast of South Africa in 1945. Screenshot.[1] |
The recent celebrations of the 75th anniversary of VE Day took me back to January 1945. I was 19 years old and seconded to the RAF 262 Squadron Catalina flying boats hunting down U-boats off the South African coast that were sinking two to three ships a week from the convoys carrying arms and soldiers to the Far East. It was a moonless night when our radar picked up a U-boat on the surface, charging its batteries some 70 miles ahead of the convoy we were escorting. They could not hear or see us as we, the invisible enemy, attacked from a low altitude with a batch of depth charges and a few “landing” flares. We immediately turned around and overflew the scene to see the stern of the U-boat sticking out of the sea almost vertically. The feeling of triumph quickly turned into compassion for the 50 or so submariners, and for their families whom we had now condemned to a lifetime of grief and struggle. This was echoed by our Chaplain at the ‘celebrations’ the next day, when in a brief prayer he emphasised forgiveness. Fast-forward to the present, i.e. WW3 – the war against the invisible enemy, Covid-19! The grief and anxiety of the innocent victims of the virus must evoke our deepest compassion, and the dedication to help in whatever way we are capable. I cannot imagine how the thousands of families will manage to recover from loss of jobs, total loss of income, accommodation, and in the case of private businesses recover from bankruptcy, all hope and ambition destroyed. The families of the U-boat victims must have felt the same? I will remember them too in my prayers. Basil Hotz (aged 94), Constantia Cape Town, South Africa
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